Ancient Runes
by Silver Sailor Ganymede
Summary: Eloise Midgen hates Ancient Runes. Sarina Moon loves Ancient Runes. The one thing they agree on, in fact, is that working with each other on this project is going to be a nightmare. COMPLETE!
1. Eloise

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

(A.N: Ok, I've realised that I've got something of a series going on here. This fic follows on after 'Whatever Happened to SallyAnne Perks'; 'Eloise'; and 'Web of Lies': all of them are indirectly linked.)

Ancient Runes  
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

Eloise

I have never been able to understand why I decided to take Ancient Runes as a subject for N.E.W.T level: I mean, it's just not very interesting, really; well, not to me anyway. Where will taking bloody _Ancient Runes_ get me? All I want to do is become Minister of Magic, and that doesn't involve studying extinct languages.

I actually fell asleep last lesson, something which went unnoticed by Professor Vectra, but which I got a very long lecture from Lisa Turpin because of. It was all 'Eloise, you could have caused Ravenclaw to loose house points if Vectra had caught you!' It was really, really irritating; I swear, even that Mudblood Granger can't possibly be as annoying or pompous as Lisa is… can she?

What was worse was when Mandy (Mandy Brocklehurst) told me what I had missed – Vectra had assigned us to work in pairs, and I had been assigned to work with none other than the only Slytherin girl in our class… Sarina Moon. I mean, of all the people I _could _have had to work with, why _her_! I knew she was a freak even before I found her diary in the Slytherin common room, but now…

I think Vectra must have realised I've been falling asleep in her classes as their so boring, and she's found an even worse way to torture me than taking away house points.

* * *

I usually love going to the library… usually: now, however, I was there with someone I found to be… well, let's just say I have never liked Moon, blasted half-vampire that she is.

She looked up from her book as I sat down and said, "You're late, Eloise."

Okay, that was really annoying; I mean who was she to be calling me by my first name? It's just not done unless someone's your friend; and dear Miss Moon is certainly _not _a friend of mine. I'm going to _kill _Padma; I should have told her specifically _not _to ask Moon to meet me in the library. Gods this'll be embarrassing; I don't even know where we are in Ancient Runes; I haven't been paying attention at all since last month!

"Midgen, did you just hear me; I just told you that you were late!"

Midgen… no matter how much I hate my surname I'd rather be called 'Midgen' by a Mudblood like her.

"I know that I'm late" I snapped back. "And quite frankly, I don't care."

She stared over the top of her glasses at me (strange, I didn't know she wore glasses) and sighed, "Look, Midgen, I know that you don't care about what grade you get in this subject, but I for one do. And I'm not going to fail just because some snooty little pureblood thinks that she's too clever to even listen to the professors during lesson time!"

I blinked: okay, then I _knew _that the Sorting Hat makes mistakes; I mean, what non-Ravenclaw student would honestly care that much about passing such a pointless project! And as for the 'snooty little pureblood' remark, well, if she thought I'd just let it pass then she was sorely mistaken.

"Look, _Moon_, I don't know why you think I'm a 'snooty little pureblood', but better that than a stuck-up mudblood!"

Sarina rolled her eyes, "I wish people wouldn't use that phrase; it's not only annoying, but it's also politically incorrect."

"What?" I laughed.

"I mean that there is no such thing as 'muddy blood'; all blood tastes exactly the same. I would know, after all."

"Oh yes" I found myself sneering, "you're a filthy half-breed, aren't you. That's obviously where your weird looks come from too."

She glowered at me and hissed under her breath, sounding rather like a snake.

"I should just put you under a very nasty torture curse right now for that remark. However I, unlike you, am not a vindictive little bitch.

"Also, you're completely wrong about my 'weird looks'. My eyes aren't naturally golden, you know; in fact they're black. And as for my purple-tinted hair, well it's naturally dark brown; I dye it, that's all."

"What?" I asked. "How the Hell do you manage to change your hair-colour by killing your hair: I didn't even think hair was alive anyway: what you just said made no sense whatsoever!"

She blinked at me, trying to work out what I had just said… and _burst out laughing_! I was shocked… okay, that's a huge understatement, I was amazed; I couldn't for the life of me work out what was so funny about the point I'd made.

"Hair _dye_, nitwit, not die."

Okay, Moon was officially _nuts_.

"Hair dye, 'd. y. e.' Its a product used by Muggles to change their hair-colour. You really never paid attention in Muggle Studies, did you?"

"No" I replied. "Why the hell would be interested in learning about that subspecies of human?"

"You sound like Voldemort" she said, disgust clearly audible in her voice.

"Is there anything wrong with Voldemort?" I snapped back.

"Well apart from the fact that he's a complete lunatic that behaves as though he's on crack."

I stared at her, torn between laughter and… sheer amazement. She was definitely completely and utterly _nuts_: I mean, who the hell would even _consider _the idea of the Dark Lord on Crack. What's more she's both a Slytherin and a half-vampire, and both the Slytherins and the vampires always side with the Dark.

"That's it" I mumbled, "I'm leaving."

"Oh no you're not." Sarina snapped, "we have an Ancient Runes project to do."

"Whatever. I'm leaving."

She growled. "Fine, but you're coming back tomorrow."

"Yeah right", I mumbled as I left the library.

"Yes, I _am _right. I'll see you tomorrow, _Eloise_."

I hate that goddamn mudblood!

* * *

"What do you _mean_ you haven't even started translating yet!" Lisa yelled at me. "You have to translate the entire book by next month! You'll never get it finished at this rate!"  
I rolled my eyes, exasperated, trying to block my ears to Lisa's lecture and to not look at Padma and Mandy, both of whom were laughing silently as they watched Lisa got completely over the top, yet _again_.

"And I don't know why either of you are laughing either" Lisa snapped at Padma and Mandy. "Honestly, are Lydia and I the only girls in this year with any sense whatsoever!"

She was, of course, referring to Lydia Stevens, the other girl in our year who went nearly as mad as Lisa if she heard that someone was neglecting their studies… well, almost. I mean, I couldn't imagine myself acting as pompously as Lisa: in fact, I rolled my eyes at the mere thought of such a thing.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, Eloise!" Lisa snapped. "Well, if no one is going to even entertain the thought of listening to the logic in my statements, then I think I'll leave the dormitory and go and sit in the common room until someone here regains their sense!"

Lisa left in a right huff. Mandy turned to me and laughed out loud.

"How do you _do _that to her, 'Lou!" Mandy laughed.

"Don't call me 'Lou'" I snapped. "It's Eloise! E. L. O. I. S. E. Eloise!"

"Well done, you've finally learned to spell your own name", Padma said. Her voice was dripping with so much sarcasm that it would've put Snape to shame.

I took the pillow off my bed, threw it at Padma… and missed by a mile.

"Well, I have divination homework to do", Mandy said, walking down to the common room and leaving Padma and I alone in the dormitory.

I noticed that Padma and I both had the same, amazed look on our faces.

"_Divination homework_" I said, incredulously. "Who in their right mind would do _Divination _as a N.E.W.T?"

"My sister does it."

"My point exactly" I replied, and Padma laughed; it's no secret that Padma and her sister Parvati pretty much hate each other; their like… like… what's that muggle saying… coal and milk? No, that's not it… oh I can't be bothered to think of it.

There was silence for a while, then Padma asked, "so, did you and Moon do anything at all in the library earlier?"

"No. Well, no work anyway. Man, that girl is insane."

"Why?"

"She said that Voldemort behaves as though he's on Crack."

Padma stared at me and laughed.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Voldemort on Crack" Padma laughed. I grabbed my other pillow and threw it at her: it hit her in the face and she fell onto the floor, still laughing.

It was just then that Lydia came into the dormitory. She looked at me, then at Padma, who was pretty much dying of laughter, and asked, "what the heck's going on in here?"

"Don't ask" I replied.

* * *

I like getting up really early in the mornings. Don't ask me why, I'm just weird that way. But then again, it might have something to do with the fact that the Great Hall is always nice and quiet at six-o-clock in the morning. I was the only Ravenclaw in the Hall then. There were only a couple of Hufflepuffs and no Gryffindors, but the Slytherin table was surprisingly full for so early in the morning. And… oh no, Moon and Greengrass were sitting right behind me. Greengrass was acting amazingly hyper for six a.m, but Moon looked as though she was about to fall asleep in her porridge.

You know, it came as no surprise to me that Moon would be friends with Greengrass. I mean, Moon is completely nuts, and Greengrass is Slytherin's answer to Loony Lovegood!

While looking at them, I noticed that Moon had her hair in a style that reminded me of two meatballs with a load of spaghetti hanging down from them, like a character from a muggle TV show I saw once. I also saw that she'd dyed her hair bright green.

"I'm going to _kill _Theo!" Moon was ranting. "And I'm going to kill _you _if you _ever _get me up at this ungodly hour again!"

I felt like laughing at the look on her face as she said this.

"It's only the third time this week I've woken you up at five-thirty" Greengrass said while twirling a lock of her sand-coloured hair.

"Exactly; it's the third time this week and it's only Wednesday. Honestly, getting up so early is driving me nuts. I mean, telling _Midgen _of all people what I think of the Dark Lord; she must think I'm completely insane!

"Honestly Daphy, if you get me up this early ever again I swear that my brain will die. Let me sleep in until ten tomorrow."

"But you'll miss your first lesson."

"No I won't. Wait, I take that back, I'll meet Midgen in the library at nine instead; it'll be a lye in anyway compared to this, and the sooner we finish that  
Ancient Runes project, the better."

"I thought you _liked_ Ancient Runes."

"I _do_: I just don't want to spend too long on this project; I'd have had the book almost completely done by now, and we haven't even started."

She looked like she was almost asleep again. I had finished my breakfast by that time, so I got up and walked right up to Moon and Greengrass.

"Good morning Moon," I said in a voice that was much more cheery than my normal one. "Lovely morning today. Isn't it wonderful to be getting up so nice and _early_."

Greengrass laughed. Moon glared at her and then at me.

"I'll see you later, in the library."

"Sure" I said. "If you're actually awake by then."

She gave me a look that could have killed the dead, and I walked off laughing as I heard her snapping, yet again, at Greengrass.

* * *

"Right; we're actually going to do some _work_ this evening" Moon said as I sat down in the Library.

"I guess" I sighed. I took out my copy of the book we were supposed to be translating, and found that, surprise, surprise, I couldn't figure out what the hell the runes on it meant.

"You haven't been paying attention at all in class for the past month, have you?" Moon asked, exasperated.

"Nope" I replied.

Moon shook her head, "If you had been paying attention like you should have been, you'd be able to read this entire book by now!"

"Well I can't."

"Right" she said. She began to rummage through her bag, and soon pulled out a crumpled sheet of parchment. She then handed the parchment to me.

I noticed that the parchment was covered in a runic alphabet; from the looks of it, it was the same one that the book was written in.

"You learn that alphabet, and I'll begin translating" Moon said. "However, we'll _both_ be doing the translating tomorrow, so you'd better not slack; I'll know if you have been."

"Right" I sighed.

We sat in silence for a while - Moon writing very fast as she translated the book from runes to English, me trying to memorise the runic alphabet that we were supposed to have learnt. I found that the alphabet was surprisingly easy to memorise, so that was good.

After about an hour, Moon looked up from her writing. She had bright purple ink on her hands, robes and face as well as her glasses.

"Well, I think that's enough for tonight" she said.

"How far have you got?"

"Thirty seven pages out of two hundred" she replied. I gaped at her; I probably wouldn't have been able to do _ten _pages in that amount of time.

Seeing the amazed look on my face, Moon said, "after Potions, Ancient Runes is my best subject. I am part vampire after all, and all three of our alphabets are runic."

She roughly shoved all her things into her bag. I was about to hand her the sheet of parchment she had lent me, but Moon just laughed and said, "keep it; I don't need it."

As we left the library, I took the opportunity to ask, "so Moon, how did you're hair suddenly become green? Did you use hair-dye or whatever it's called on it?"

"No" Moon muttered. "Let's just say that I got in between Theo and Daphne when they were duelling, and I got hit by a spell. The colour won't come out for the next month, so I'm stuck with green hair."

"Oh well, Moon, look on the bright side" I said, "at least you haven't got bright red hair, because then you'd be stuck with Gryffindor colours for an entire month."

Moon cringed as though she could barely imagine anything worse.

"Yeah, and I'd be hungry all the time; red makes me think of blood", she sighed. "And for Salazar's sake, my name is Sarina, so call me Sarina; 'Moon' makes it sound as though I'm a werewolf. I mean, dad is, but I'm not, so I don't know why I was given the name 'Moon' too."

"Your father's a _werewolf_ as well as a _vampire_?"

"Umm, yeah", Moon mumbled, looking mad at herself for letting that piece of information slip. "That's why the vampire clans and the werewolf packs have stopped warring. My father was bitten by a werewolf, and a friend of his, who was already a werewolf, was turned by one of the Elders, so we now have a state of truce."

I was shocked by that to say the least, and the silence between us was only broken once we reached the main staircase. I was to go up to Ravenclaw Tower, and she had to go down to the Slytherin common rooms.

"See you tomorrow, Moon" I said.

"It's Sarina, not Moon", she replied.

As I walked back to Ravenclaw Tower I was suddenly hit with a thought.

'Maybe she's not so bad after all'.

Hell… and I thought today couldn't seem any stranger.

* * *

The next morning, I met with Moon - or Sarina as she insisted I call her – in the library at nine-o-clock. She was already busy writing when I sat down. I noticed, quite suddenly, that her reading glasses were missing.

"I think Daphy decided to play a trick on me", she muttered when I asked where her glasses were. "She's hidden them somewhere, and now I can't see a damn thing that's close to me. Oh well, it's your turn to translate anyway."

She thrust the book at me and I started working.  
After about five minutes, I realised what it was that we were working on.

"Why would anyone want to translate 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' in to Mermish?" I asked. "I mean, this book would be ruined under water."

"I know" Sarina laughed.

We sat in silence for about the next hour and a half, me translating, Sarina reading a_ Divination textbook_ of all things, when I saw a character that I didn't quite recognise.

"What's that character mean?" I asked, pointing to symbol which I thought meant fire.

"It means sunlight" she replied. "From what I can make out, that passage is about vampires and… what the heck, that's not right!"

She'd grabbed the book off me and read through the passage again.

"I thought Newt Scamander was an expert, but that's completely wrong!" she said, sounding very, very annoyed.

"What is?"

"Well, it says here that the clans are run solely by the Elders. That's not true; only the Domana line of the Vampyr is run that way. The other twelve clans are headed by the Elder, but the decisions are made by all. Even though the Domana line is a dictatorship, in effect, the other clans are democracies. And also, what it doesn't say here is that the leaders of each coven meet once a decade to discuss matters that are occurring throughout the Vamyric world; that's the council of thirteen, and it's currently headed by Count Vlad Dracul'ah."

"Dracula? I thought he was a fictional character."

"No, Dra-kü-lar, not Dra-queue-la. He's the eldest of us living; he's over ten thousand years old."

"_Ten thousand years old_!"

"Yes; full Vampyr are almost immortal after all. Most only die if they choose to, or if they're slain for treason against the clans; but that hasn't happened for about two-hundred and fifty years. Seeing as I'm only a half-blood, I can either choose to be turned again – that is very rarely done, mind – or I can continue living as I am, and die at the age of about three hundred."

"Three hundred!"

"Not that long, is it? I mean, Flammel was over six-hundred years old." She paused, gazing off into space, and then blinked. "Why did I just tell you all of that; we're supposed to be working on this project, not discussing Vampyric politics!"

She looked at her watch and said, "Well, I'll see you later, Midgen. I have Divination now."

"I have a free lesson, so I'll stay and work on this." I said, surprising myself with my own enthusiasm. "Have fun in Divination."

As she left, a thought struck me; it was true what I'd said to Padma last night; no one in their right mind would take Divination for N.E.W.T level.

* * *

Dinner that night was quite a mad affair. I was sitting next to Padma, and we were both trying not to fall asleep as Mandy droned on and on about her Divination lessons. (She had had Divination twice today; a double lesson with Trelawny; what a nightmare!).

"And then I turned around the Tarot Cards, and I got a…".

"Mandy" Padma said, trying her best not to shout at her friend, "please just shut up will you. I have to listen to that Divination crap all the time at home because Mum and Parvati are obsessed with it. The _last_ thing I want is a lecture on it from you."

"Sorry" Mandy laughed and turned to me. "Anyway, how's the Ancient Runes project going?"

"Fine" I replied. "We were discussing Vampyric politics for about quarter-of an hour."

"Vamyric politics" a dreamy voice questioned, and I realised that, joy of joys, Loony Lovegood was sitting next to us.

"Yes, Vampyric politics", Padma said.

"Do you mean the Ministry of Magic?"

Okay, now I knew exactly why she was called 'Loony'.

"What do you mean?" another, rather interested voice asked, and I discovered that Sarina and her mad friend 'Daphy' Greengrass were sitting right behind us.

"The minister of magic is a Vampire."

At that, Sarina's mouth dropped open; she looked quite horrified.

"Scrimgeour…a Vampire!" Sarina snapped. "That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! I mean, how on Earth could that monster be a Vampire? He was the one who imposed all these recent rules on the 'regulation and control of dark creatures' which, might I add, affected both vampires and werewolves directly. Neither of the senates, Wolvic or Vampyric, are pleased with that, I assure you. I mean, Scrimgeour being a vampire is about as likely as Voldemort being sane; it's never going to happen, and it's ridiculous even to suggest it."

Loony Lovegood didn't really look surprised; she's so mad she's used to people saying things like that about her idiotic 'theories', but as for the rest of us, we were really shocked.

"Now, I'm going to the common room; I'll be able to escape this idiocy then" Sarina snapped, and she stood up and left.

"What's with her?" Padma mused. "Why was she so annoyed about that?"

"Sarina Moon's a half-vampire", Daphy Greengrass replied. "She hates the ministry even more than she hates Voldemort, and believe me, that's saying something."

"Well, the Ministry is run by a bunch of incompetent mudbloods anyway; I for one can't blame her."

Mandy glared at me and I realised that I, being so bad with words and so opinionated, had really put my foot in my mouth this time! I mean, Padma and I are both purebloods, but Mandy is a half-blood, so the term 'Mudblood' was offensive to her.

"Well, I've finished dinner… I'll be going back to the common room, and that's where I'll be if anyone needs me", I said quickly and I rushed out of the hall.

I had really messed up this time. You know, I have this feeling that Mandy will be mad at me for quite a while until I get the guts to apologise. I am such an idiot… wait, I take that back, Loony Lovegood is an idiot for even starting that discussion in the first place. Or did I start it? Oh, who cares? It's just easier to blame Loony Lovegood.

* * *

Over a week has passed and I still haven't managed to apologise to Mandy for the 'Mudblood' remark. Yesterday, Saturday, I was sitting in the Common Room… but not the Ravenclaw Common Room… the _Slytherin _Common Room.

Sarina and I had nearly finished translating that Mermish book; thank god. (We've only got thirty-nine pages left now!)

Anyway, I was sitting in the Slytherin Common Room. It was just like old times when I sneaked in here to see Colette. (Colette, by the way, is Colette Draconisson. She's a year older than I am, but we've been friends for _forever_.)

Now, if anyone reads my diary like I read Sarina's – which, believe me, they wouldn't dare to do – they may be wondering how I was in the Slytherin common room and how I managed to stay in there without getting kicked out. Well, the answer is simple; Colette is Head Girl – the first Slytherin to get the position of Head Girl for over one hundred and fifty years! You know, most headmasters and headmistresses really hated the Slytherins for some reason. I can't see why. Did you know that Tom Marvolo Riddle was the first Slytherin to become Head Boy in over five hundred years?

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, I was with Colette in the Slytherin Common Room, and even though more than a week had passed, I still hadn't apologised to Mandy for my 'Mudblood' remark.

When I explained all this to Colette, she looked at me and sighed.

"Eloise, how many times have I told you this? Honestly, if I've said it once, I've said it two thousand times. Even if you hate Mudbloods, you _don't say the word 'Mudblood' in public_." She fixed her bright yellow eyes (yes, she has naturally yellow eyes) on me and scowled.

"I know." I sighed. "But what I don't understand is why Sarina was so completely pissed off at Loony Lovegood for saying that thing about Scrimgeour being a Vampire."

"Sarina, you mean Moon?"

"Yeah."

"So, I guess you haven't read the Prophet recently" Colette sighed again, twirling a lock of her ash-blonde hair.

"Why would I read the Daily Prophet?" I laughed. "It's a tabloid newspaper that's full of crap."

"I agree, for the most part. The thing you fail to realise, Eloise, is that there are some interesting articles relating to the Ministry of Mudbloods and their blunderings."

Well, Colette obviously has enough sense to hate the Ministry; well, why shouldn't she? Her father and her eldest brother are both in Azkaban thanks to the Ministry and its anti-pureblood tendencies. Not all Purebloods are Death Eaters, and not all Death Eaters are Purebloods, but just because most of the known Death Eaters are Purebloods – like the Malfoys – all Purebloods are suspected of being Death Eaters. I mean, Colette's sister lost her job at the Ministry when it was found that her father and brother were Death Eaters, but Coralie (that's Colette's sister) had never had anything to do with Voldemort. It's weird the way the Ministry thinks, isn't it?

Anyway, Colette proceeded to 'accio' a copy of last week's Daily Prophet over to us, and show me the front-page article:

_MINISTER of MAGIC, RUFUS SCRIMGEOUR, INSTATES NEW LAWS on the TREATMENT and RIGHTS of **DARK CREATURES** _

_Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, last night revealed his plans to control the treatment and rights of **Dark Creatures** such as **Vampires **and **Werewolves**.  
__It is well known that all Dark Creatures sided with He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named during the last war, and so Minister Scrimgeour has taken many steps to prevent such a thing reoccurring. It has been stated that these laws will prevent all non (and part)-humans from working within Wizarding society, and therefore make the world a lot safer.  
__It has also been proclaimed that **all Dark Creatures **_**must **_register with the Ministry in order that they can be controlled. This system will involve the **creature **being numbered in order that tracking may be made easier.  
__The Minister said that "Such a thing should have been done decades ago, and I have every confidence that regulating **Dark Creatures **will help us to win the war against Lord Vol… You-Know-Who."  
This has been regarded widely as an excellent move, however it has met some opposition from **Werewolf **rights campaigners. The leader of this Movement, Mister Fenrir Greybeck, stated that (continued on page four)._

I put down the paper; I just couldn't read much more. It was awful! The way that article was written, it was as though they believed that all Dark creatures are evil, and Dark doesn't necessarily mean evil.

"Do you see why Sarina hates him so much now?" Colette asked. I nodded; yes, I knew exactly why. And they say Voldemort is bad.

I sighed; I knew that there was nothing I could do about those idiotic 'laws', but there had to be something I could do to cheer Sarina up. And then it hit me…

"Thanks Col, I've got to go", I said quickly, jumping to my feet.

"Where are you going?" she asked, but I was in such a rush that I didn't reply; I just raced out of the Slytherin Common Room and headed towards the Library.

* * *

I am sitting in the restricted section of the Library, waiting for Madam Pince to close it. You see, my grand plan will, hopefully, both please Sarina and get this darn project out of the way once and for all. Oh, there go the doors. Great, I'm locked in; now I can't put plan 'Cheer up Sarina 'Vampire' Moon' into action.

I was woken up this morning my Madam Pince's shrill shrieking, "Eloise Andrea Midgen! What on Earth do you think you're doing! How on Earth did you get locked in here! And why is there bright purple ink all over your school robes!"

Carry on like that for about twenty minutes and you'll get the picture of what she made me go through. I just hope this plan works.

* * *

Madam Pince shooed me down to the Great Hall for breakfast, where I was met by Lisa, who was fuming; Padma, who looked as though she had been up all night worrying; Lydia, who looked rather shocked by my sudden appearance; and Mandy, who looked rather bored.

"Where on Earth were you last night?" Lisa snapped. "Honestly, if you spent all night walking around then you really shouldn't have! You could have lost Ravenclaw a lot of House points!"

"I wasn't wandering around" I replied, beginning to butter some toast.

"Then where were you?" Padma asked.

"Library" I replied.

"What?" Lydia asked.

"I was in the Library; I stayed up all night finishing off that Ancient Runes project; I told Pince I'd fallen asleep, so I didn't get into any trouble. Honestly, I didn't."

"I thought you hated Ancient Runes," Lisa said.

"I do, but I just wanted to get it out of the way," I replied. "So do you actually like Ancient Runes now?" Mandy asked, speaking to me for the first time in over a week.

"No, but I do like Sarina Moon. And Mandy, I'm sorry for using the 'M' word last week; I forgot that such things would offend you."

"Are you really Eloise?" Mandy asked.

"Yes" I replied.

"Well, we should lock you in the Library more often if you behave like this afterwards" Padma laughed. I glared at her and turned back to Mandy.

"So Mand, are we still in a fight?"

"Are you still being a pureblooded bitch?"

"No, I don't think so" I replied. "Anyway, I have to go back to the library. See you all later."

And so I ran back to the Library, leaving my dorm-mates sitting at the table with shocked looks on their faces.

I was sitting in the library, staring at the ceiling, when Sarina finally arrived. Her hair was still bright green, but it fell down loose in a knotted mass, right down to her ankles. Her eyes were not golden but black rimmed with red, just as they had been all week.

"Morning" I said, but she didn't reply.

"Right, what have we got to do?" Sarina mumbled, pulling her book out of the bag as I handed her the essay. She flicked through the essay, looked back at the book, back at the essay and then at me.

"I thought you hated Ancient Runes", she said.

"I do" I replied.

"Then how the heck did you manage to finish this essay? We had about forty pages left to translate."

"Thirty nine", I replied. "But you've been under a lot of stress lately and I decided to finish the essay."

"But... it must have taken you all night!"

"It did; Pince didn't half freak out when she found me here this morning!" I laughed, and Sarina smiled; I mean she actually smiled!

"You know what, Eloise, you're not as bad as you make everyone think," Sarina laughed.

"Erm, thanks, I think", I said. "So, does this mean we're friends now?"

"You want to be my friend" she said, shocked. She gaped at me then muttered, "very funny joke."

"I wasn't joking" I replied. "Look, I've been an idiot. I am not going to be so 'Death-Eater-like" from now on. And you know what else?"

"What?"

"I think your right; Voldemort probably is on Crack" I laughed and so did she.

* * *

Finally, the day this has all been leading up to is here; we're getting our results back; you know; the results for our Ancient Runes Project.

Vectra places our project in front of us.

"Well done Miss Moon, Miss Midgen," Vectra smiles. "Not a single mistake in the entire translation."

Sarina looks at the paper and then at me, "We got an 'O'" she smirks. "Yes, that's brilliant!"

I smirk as well and those smirks turn into full grins as we look at Lisa and Granger, both of whom are looking extremely miffed.

* * *

"So Eloise is friends with someone she thought of as an arch-enemy before. Hermione Granger didn't get the highest score in the year for something. Eloise actually likes Ancient Runes. Eloise is acting sympathetic towards part-humans, non-humans and non-purebloods. And to top all that off, there are  
Slytherins sitting at the Ravenclaw table", Padma said, looking first at me, then at Lisa, then at Sarina and Daphne, and then back to me. "Have I stepped into an alternate dimension?"

"No" I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Oh god, the way this is going, somebody's going to say something even more ridiculous like 'Voldemort is on Crack'", Lydia muttered.

I looked at Sarina, then Daphne and then Padma and we all laughed.

I guess friendships form in the most unlikely places, don't they?


	2. Sarina

_**(A. N: This is the same as chapter one, but it's slightly different because it's from Sarina's P.O.V, not Eloise's. Enjoy ).**_

Sarina

I love Ancient Runes. I absolutely love it. It's really fascinating, and the only down-side to it is that it can be a bit too easy at times. I've always known that I would take Ancient Runes for N.E.W.T level. I mean I'm good at languages – I can speak English, Romanian, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Vampyric and Fearie already – so why not take Ancient Runes?

Last lesson we were assigned to work in pairs for this project we have to do (we've got to translate a book from Mermish into English). I thought that that would be fun; well, I did until I found out whom I was working with. Yep, you guessed it, Professor Vectra had me work with none other than Eloise Midgen; wow, how lucky am I?

I mean, _Eloise Midgen_ of all people. Why her? She's so opinionated she's like a Death Eater! It's so annoying to hear someone ramble on about how great the Dark Lord is. It's like with Draco the other evening; he was rambling on about what a great man Voldemort is, and then Blaise hexed him, badly. Serves Ferret-boy right: I mean, we were bound to get sick of his nonsense after an hour and a half of listening, weren't we?

Anyway, that's Draco for you. As for Eloise Midgen, well, that's an entirely different story. But then again, she does seem similar to Draco; for one thing she just gave up on her studies after the end of fifth year; how odd is that; I mean, she's a Ravenclaw; aren't they supposed to be smart and studious?

Oh drat, I'm starting to let my mind wander again, and I'm beginning to listen to the idiotic stereotypes people have come up with. Argh! If there's one thing I absolutely hate about Hogwarts, it's the House stereotypes. If you're a Gryffindor, you're amazing, friendly, brave, funny and good. If you're a Hufflepuff, you're a duffer who wouldn't fit anywhere else. If you're a Ravenclaw, you're bookish and too smart for your own good. And if you're a Slytherin, you're antisocial, pessimistic, rude, sarcastic, mean, slimy, cunning, horrible and all round evil. Does no one else see anything wrong with that picture?

But I digress; I've wandered completely off topic again. The one thing I meant to write down here is that I am – excuse my French – pissed; I've been paired off with the one Ravenclaw who hates work, Ancient Runes, and _me_. Things just can't get any better, can they?

* * *

I was sitting in the library, minding my own business and trying to study for my Divination project, when a voice startled me out of my thoughts, made me jump and break my glasses. 

"Oh, sorry Moon" a cheery voice said. I looked up and found a Ravenclaw smiling at me; I knew, of course, that this was Padma Patil, the one who was pretty much the polar opposite of her gossipy, bitchy Gryffindorian twin.

"What do you want, Patil?" I asked, trying to be polite. I'm always polite to people, unless they've done something to really, really irk me. Hell, I'm even polite to the Gryffindors, something that amuses Blaise, Theo and Daphy to no end.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Padma Patil was in the library with me.

"Mind if I sit here?" she asked. "Everywhere else is full."

I shook my head, and she took a seat at my table (yes, _my table_; no one in their right mind would disturb me while I'm studying; I'm worse than Hermione Granger, apparently).

We sat in silence for a while, and I mused on how different the Patil twins were. I knew Parvati; she was in my Divination class. Parvati just didn't know when to stop talking/gossiping/spreading rumours/twittering on about some new fashion or pop star ecetra. It got really annoying after about five minutes.

Padma, on the other hand, seemed to know when to keep quiet and concentrate on studying. She looked rather different to her twin, even though they were supposedly identical. The reason I thought this was probably because Parvati is always covered in about ten tonnes of make-up and has her hair in some really girly style, whereas Padma wore no make-up at all, and had her black hair tied back in a neat ponytail.

We just sat there, studying in silence for about half an hour, when Padma finally spoke.

"So, I hear you're working with Eloise on your Ancient Runes Project" Padma said.

"Yes" I replied. "Aren't I just the luckiest person alive?"

I didn't realise I'd said those words aloud until I heard Padma chuckle and say, "she's not _that_ bad; well, not quite anyway. I mean, she's not as bad as Lisa Turpin or Hermione Granger, right? But then again, that's not saying much."

I laughed; it's not true that all other houses hate Slytherin. In fact, we tend to get on very well with the Ravenclaws; they are, for the most part, more open-minded than most: unfortunately for me, Eloise Midgen was an exception to that rule.

I digress once more. Padma continued speaking.

"You know, I think you should meet her here tomorrow. You see I know Eloise Andrea Midgen well enough to guess that she won't get started on this project until the last minute, and seeing as you've got to translate an entire _book_…"

She trailed off and I nodded.

"Tell her to meet me here tomorrow then, Patil. Thanks."

"It's okay. And please, call me Padma; Patil is my sister's name too, and I don't want anyone mistaking me for her."

"Okay: thanks, Padma. I'll see you in Charms class tomorrow" I smiled and left the library.

* * *

"Say _what_?" Daphy laughed. "You're working with 'Lou Midgen?" 

"Yep" I replied, sighing. I was back in the Slytherin Common Room after leaving the library. Daphy, Blaise, Millicent and Theo were all sitting with me.

You know, it's kind of weird with Slytherin; it's like there's two Slytherin Houses, not one. You see we have the snooty, arrogant purity maniacs who follow Voldemort and would happily marry their own cousins in order to keep their blood pure. They are also usually stuck up and they hate anyone who is (a) 'mudblooded', (b) a non-Slytherin and (c) Harry 'Pothead', Ron 'Weasel' or 'Mudblood' Granger. They're usually the ones who people see, and it's because of them that Slytherin has such a bad rep; but then again, they're only like that because that's how they were raised.

However, there is another, lesser-known side of our House. We are the ones who were placed here because of our cunning and ambition, not because of our wish for pure blood or our extreme arrogance. We are usually quieter, but more outspoken if we really agree/disagree with someone/something. We are the ones who truly run everything, while our more arrogant housemates take the credit. You see, the leader of our year is said to be Draco Malfoy, but the real 'Prince' of Slytherin is Blaise Zabini.

Now, in Slytherin in our year, Darco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle fit the first, better-known stereotypical Slytherin. Blaise Zabini, Theodore (Theo) Nott, Daphne (Daphy) Greengrass, Millicent (Milli) Bullstrode and I are the lesser-known type of Slytherin. Strange, isn't it, that Slytherin is represented by the minority of its students rather than the true majority. It's like that in every year.

But I digress once more. Daphy seemed to find in hysterical that I was working with the one girl in the entire school who hated me. Milli wasn't even paying attention; she was reading the sports section of the Daily Prophet. Theo was quickly finishing an essay for Arithmancy. In fact, Blaise seemed to be the only one who was taking anything I said seriously.

"My dear Salinity, you really are overreacting to this entire matter," Blaise said smoothly.

"I am _not _overreacting!" I snapped. Argh, I _hate _my full name. Why can't he just call me Sarina!

"You bloody well are" Milli replied, looking up from her copy of the Prophet. "Hey, Theo, pay up."

"What?" Theo asked, looking confused.

"We bet on the results of the Quidditch match, didn't we?"

"Yeah, why? Oh, don't tell me the Wasps actually beat the Arrows!"

"Yep. Four hundred and sixty points to one hundred and ninety two. So I do believe that _you_ owe _me _twenty galleons."

Theo cursed and gave the money to Milli.

I was beginning to get very annoyed; Daphy found my problem really funny, Blaise said I was overreacting, and as for Theo and Milli… well, they just didn't care.

"Sarina, calm down will you?" Daphy said.

"Yeah, don't go turning into a wolf on us now," Theo smirked. Okay, that hit a nerve. He was joking, but it still wasn't funny. My inherited lycanthropy is no laughing matter. You see, because it's a second-generation case, I don't turn into a savage wolf on the full moon, but I do turn into a wolf when I am particularly annoyed or stressed. It's one of only six recorded cases, so there's not much I can do about it.

"Sarina" Daphy said. "You're growling."

"It's the stress of being paired with _her_ for this project; well, that and the fact that none of you are taking this seriously. I shot my friends my famed 'evil eye look' and stalked off to the dormitory, hearing Theo mutter, "she's scary when she's annoyed" as I walked off.

My friends really are no help in this matter, are they?

* * *

I had been waiting in the library for fifteen minutes when Midgen finally decided to show her face. I had completed the entire month's worth of Arithmancy homework by that time, and I was very annoyed at her tardiness. 

"You're late, Eloise," I snapped.

Honestly, and I thought Daphy was bad at timekeeping: even she wouldn't have been this late though! I bet Midgen did this just to – excuse my French – but I just bet she did this in order to piss me off; it worked too! Argh! I just bet she doesn't even know where we are in Ancient Runes; I've caught her falling asleep in lesson before, so it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't know a thing we'd done in the last month or so.

And now she dares to space out and _not apologise_ when she's turned up _quarter of an hour late_!

"Midgen," I snapped. "Did you just hear me; I just told you that you were late!"

She rolled her eyes at me – the cheek – and snapped "I know that I'm late, and quite frankly I don't care."  
How rude can you get? She obviously wasn't taught any manners whatsoever, I can tell that much immediately. I shot her a piercing glare over the top of my reading glasses (yes, I do wear reading glasses; always have done, most people just don't stare at me long enough to notice), and sighed.

"Look, Midgen, I know that you don't care about what grade you get in this subject, but I for one do. And I'm not going to fail just because some snooty little pureblood thinks that she's too clever to even listen to the professors during lesson time!"

Okay, I don't know where that 'snooty little pureblood' remark came from; I've probably said it to Pansy too many times. I opened my mouth and was about to apologise when she snapped back at me.

"Look, _Moon_, I don't know why you think I'm a 'snooty little pureblood', but better that than a stuck-up mudblood!" Eloise snapped as she sat down.

Stuck-up; she's obviously never heard herself talking; and as for the word 'mudblood'… I rolled my eyes and said, "I wish people wouldn't use that phrase; it's not only annoying, but it's also politically incorrect."

"What?" she laughed. "I mean that there is no such thing as 'muddy blood'" I explained. "All blood tastes exactly the same. I would know, after all."

Why did I just say that; damn those insomnia attacks! And then she said something so rude that not even the elitist, purity-mad Slytherins would have said. 

"Oh yes" she sneered, "you're a filthy half-breed, aren't you. That's obviously where your weird looks come from too."

Filthy half-breed! That… that… that _bitch_. No, 'bitch' doesn't even begin to sum up this girl. Argh, she's so dead. I gave her the 'evil-eye' and hissed.

"I should just put you under a very nasty torture curse right now for that remark. However I, unlike you, am not a vindictive little bitch." I snapped, slowly losing my temper and trying not to get so annoyed that I turned into a wolf. "Also, you're completely wrong about my 'weird looks'. My eyes aren't naturally golden, you know; in fact they're black. And as for my purple-tinted hair, well it's naturally dark brown; I dye it, that's all."

"What?" she asked. "How the Hell do you manage to change your hair-colour by killing your hair: I didn't even think hair was alive anyway: what you just said made no sense whatsoever!"

'What? What on Earth? Change my hair colour by killing my hair? I said dye, not d.' I thought. And then it hit me. She had obviously hated muggle studies as much as she hated Ancient Runes. Hair 'die' indeed! I found my anger abating as I began to laugh out loud.

"Hair _dye_, nitwit, not die," I laughed.

She still had an extremely confused look on her face, so I continued and explained.

"Hair dye, 'd. y. e.' Its a product used by Muggles to change their hair-colour. You really never paid attention in Muggle Studies, did you?"

"No" she replied. "Why the hell would be interested in learning about that subspecies of human?"

'That subspecies of human'. Oh God, why wasn't she put in Slytherin. I take back what I once wrote; Midgen would fit right in with Draco and his cronies. Purity mad, the lot of them. But even Draco wouldn't say that in public where he might have been overheard. Hell, the only person who would was…

"You sound like Voldemort" I said, disgusted at Midgen's Death Eater-like opinions.

"Is there anything wrong with Voldemort?" she snapped back. What is it about Midgen and snapping at me; she snaps so much she's going to turn into a crocodile if she's not careful.

"Well apart from the fact that he's a complete lunatic that behaves as though he's on crack." I found myself muttering. I couldn't believe I'd just said that; I'd been talking to my father way too much. He's always saying that Voldemort behaves as though he's on drugs, but there we are. I really need to try and sleep some more or my brain would stop functioning.

"That's it" Midgen mumbled, "I'm leaving."

"Oh no you're not." I said, snapping out of my daydreams, "we have an Ancient Runes project to do."

"Whatever. I'm leaving."

I found myself growling; she had the nerve to turn up a quarter of an hour late and then refuse to day any work. I felt the wolf in me wanting to come out and just bite her. I calmed the wolf inside me down and hissed, "Fine, but you're coming back tomorrow."

"Yeah right", Midgen mumbled as she left the library.

"Yes, I _am _right. I'll see you tomorrow, _Eloise_." I called her by her fist name, hoping to annoy her; from the look on her face it worked.

I hate that goddamn elitist pureblood!

* * *

I had no homework (apart from that damn Ancient Runes project, and I wasn't about to do that; Midgen would have to work if she wanted to pass), none of the others had any homework, and we were all sitting in the Slytherin Common Room, bored. Theo was refusing to speak to Milli; he was still fuming about having lost that bet (more like having lost the money; honestly, he's really rich and he complains about losing twenty measly galleons). 

"Honestly Theo, you're going more over the top than Sarina went yesterday" Blaise muttered, absentmindedly shuffling a pack of exploding snap cards.

"So; I can't believe that…"

"For Christ's sake Theo, its only Quidditch." Daphy said, rolling her eyes.

"Only Quidditch? _Only Quidditch_? I'll give you '_only Quidditch_'". He pulled his wand out of his robes and a flash of bright green light flooded the room. But the spell missed Daphy and rebounded off the wall. And then it hit me in the head. I had no clue what that spell had done to me, but whatever it was must've been pretty funny. Theo, Daphy and Milli were laughing. Blaise was just staring at me, wide-eyed.

"What? What is it?" I asked.

"Here" Daphy muttered, pulling a mirror from her robes. "Take a look."

What I saw wasn't funny so much as strange; my hair, which was usually dyed a purplish-black colour, had turned a luminous shade of lime-green.

"That spell won't ware off for a month", Blaise observed.

"A month!" I yelled. "I'm stuck with lime-green hair for a month!"

I guess I must have yelled pretty loudly, because Theo ran off; Blaise jumped, and the common room was filled with a sound like a bomb detonating as the exploding cards he'd been shuffling hit the floor.

Shit… bright green hair… and I thought today couldn't get any worse!

* * *

Daphy woke me up at five-thirty in the morning. Pardon my French, but what the fuck was she thinking? I a not, I repeat _not_ a morning person! I would usually sleep in until half-an-hour before class started, and just grab some toast Daphy or one of the others had saved for me.

But this morning we were down in the Great Hall by ten to six in the morning. What's more is that it was the third time this week and it's only Wednesday. I hate mornings.

Daphy, unlike me, is a morning person. She was talking, talking, talking and talking some more. I felt as though I was going to have to murder her if she didn't shut up. I felt my eyes closing but pinched myself so I didn't end up falling asleep in my porridge (believe me, I did that before, in fourth year, and Theo wouldn't let me live it down).

I began twirling one of my pigtails (I had my hair up in two buns with the rest hanging down in two pigtails; one on either side of my head), but soon stopped when I saw that it was still green, and would be green for the entire month now. Thank you very much, Theodore Nott.

"I'm going to _kill _Theo!" I muttered. I turned to Daphy and said, "and I'm going to kill _you _if you _ever _get me up at this ungodly hour again!"

I glowered at Daphy, who remained oblivious to my annoyance.

"It's only the third time this week I've woken you up at five-thirty" Daphy said while twirling a lock of her sand-coloured hair.

"Exactly; it's the third time this week and it's only Wednesday. Honestly, getting up so early is driving me nuts. I mean, telling _Midgen _of all people what I think of the Dark Lord; she must think I'm completely insane!" I sighed. It honestly can't be doing me any good, having only four hours sleep at most each night. "Honestly Daphy, if you get me up this early ever again I swear that my brain will die. Let me sleep in until ten tomorrow."

"But you'll miss your first lesson."

"No I won't," I said. Then I thought of something. "Wait, I take that back, I'll meet Midgen in the library at nine instead; it'll be a lye in anyway compared to this, and the sooner we finish that Ancient Runes project, the better."

"I thought you _liked_ Ancient Runes," Daphy said. Wow, how observant is she? I've been telling her since third year that I love Ancient Runes, so I explained to her.

"I _do_: I just don't want to spend too long on this project; I'd have had the book almost completely done by now, and we haven't even started."

Argh! It's so early, and trying to explain things to Daphy 'dipstick' Greengrass is really zapping my energy. I closed my eyes, not caring if I fell asleep in my porridge, when a shrill, perky voice made me jump. Eloise Midgen was awake and deciding to annoy me!

"Good morning Moon" Midgen said in a falsely cheerful and shrill voice. "Lovely morning today. Isn't it wonderful to be getting up so nice and _early_."

Daphy chuckled; I gave Daphy the 'evil eye' and then sneered evilly at Midgen.

"I'll see you later, in the library," I said.

"Sure" Midgen said. "If you're actually awake by then."

I gave me a look that could have killed the dead (i. e. 'the evil eye times one thousand). Then Midgen laughed as she walked off (she has a really shrill, annoying laugh).

"Sarina, are you actually awake yet then?" Daphy asked.

"Shut the Hell up" I found myself hissing as I literally fell asleep with my head on the table.

* * *

"Right; we're actually going to do some _work_ this evening" I said to Midgen as she sat down in the library that evening. 

"I guess" she sighed. She took out her copy of the book we were supposed to be translating and looked at it with a very confused expression on her face; she couldn't read a single thing in the book. Surprise, surprise.

"You haven't been paying attention at all in class for the past month, have you?" I asked, exasperated. Honestly, I knew that she hated Ancient Runes, but I didn't think she was quite _that_ bad at it.

"Nope" she replied.

I shook my head and said, "If you had been paying attention like you should have been, you'd be able to read this entire book by now!"

"Well I can't" she muttered.

"Right" I sighed; honestly, Ravenclaws are supposed to like studying, and here she is… no, I am _not_ going to start with the stereotypes again!

I began to rummage through my bag, and soon found what I was looking for. I pulled out a crumpled sheet of parchment with the Mermish alphabet on and I handed it to Midgen.

"You learn that alphabet, and I'll begin translating" I said; I didn't want to fall any further behind with this project. "However, we'll _both_ be doing the translating tomorrow, so you'd better not slack; I'll know if you have been."

"Right" she sighed.

We sat in silence for a while - me writing very fast as I translated the book from Mermish to English, Midgen trying to memorise the runic alphabet that we were supposed to have learnt.

After about an hour, I looked up from her writing. Midgen stared at me, and I realised that I had bright purple ink on my hands, robes and face as well as my glasses.

"Well, I think that's enough for tonight" I said, taking my glasses off and trying to clean them on my robes; needless to say it didn't work; in fact it made it worse.

"How far have you got?" she asked.

"Thirty seven pages out of two hundred" I replied. She gaped at me, though I couldn't figure out why. And then it hit me; she probably wouldn't have been able to do ten pages in that amount of time, even if she _had_ been paying attention in class.

Seeing the amazed look on her face, I decided to explain. "After Potions, Ancient Runes is my best subject. I am part vampire after all, and all three of our alphabets are runic."

I roughly shoved all her things into her bag; I was starving and it was nearly dinnertime. Midgen was about to hand me the sheet of parchment I had lent her, but I just laughed and said, "keep it; I don't need it."

As we left the library, she suddenly asked, "so Moon, how did you're hair suddenly become green? Did you use hair-dye or whatever it's called on it?"

"No" I muttered; I really didn't fancy explaining it all to her. "Let's just say that I got in between Theo and Daphne when they were duelling, and I got hit by a spell. The colour won't come out for the next month, so I'm stuck with green hair." Not exactly the whole truth, but not a lie either; I mean, betting is against the school rules, and I don't want to get Theo or Milli into trouble.

"Oh well, Moon, look on the bright side" she laughed, seeming more friendly than before, "at least you haven't got bright red hair, because then you'd be stuck with Gryffindor colours for an entire month."

I cringed. Red hair. I hate the colour red; it reminds me too much of blood.

"Yeah, and I'd be hungry all the time; red makes me think of blood", I sighed. "And for Salazar's sake, my name is Sarina, so call me Sarina; 'Moon' makes it sound as though I'm a werewolf. I mean, dad is, but I'm not, so I don't know why I was given the name 'Moon' too."

Uh-oh, I really haven't had enough sleep. Why the heck did I just tell her that?

"Your father's a _werewolf_ as well as a _vampire_?"

"Umm, yeah", I muttered, mad at myself for telling her that. "That's why the vampire clans and the werewolf packs have stopped warring. My father was bitten by a werewolf, and a friend of his, who was already a werewolf, was turned by one of the Elders, so we now have a state of truce."

Midgen looked by that to say the least, and the silence between us was only broken once we reached the main staircase. She was to go up to Ravenclaw Tower, and I had to go down to the Slytherin common rooms before dinner.

"See you tomorrow, Moon" she said.

"It's Sarina, not Moon", I replied.

As I walked back to the Slytherin Common Room I was struck with a thought. 'That Eloise Midgen sure is strange.'

* * *

I had been writing for about half-an-hour when Midgen finally arrived in the library. I was having to squint to see though, as I had lost my reading glasses (more like Daphy had decided to 'borrow' them. She's my friend, but she can be a right pain in the butt sometimes.) 

"Where're your glasses?" Midgen asked as she sat down

"I think Daphy decided to play a trick on me", I replied. "She's hidden them somewhere, and now I can't see a damn thing that's close to me. Oh well, it's your turn to translate anyway."

I thrust the book at her and she started working.

Five minutes later, Midgen finally realised what we were working on.

"Why would anyone want to translate 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' in to Mermish?" she asked. "I mean, this book would be ruined under water."

Wow, state the obvious. And if she'd even been listening, she would have known what we were working on.

"I know" I laughed, more at the fact that she was stating something so obvious than the fact that it was actually funny.

We sat in silence for about the next hour and a half, Midgen translating, me trying to read a book for Divination.

"What's that character mean?" Midgen asked, jolting me out of my thoughts. She pointed to symbol which meant sunlight.

"It means sunlight" I replied. "From what I can make out, that passage is about vampires and… what the heck, that's not right!"

I grabbed the book off her and read through the passage again, just to make sure of what I thought I'd seen.

"I thought Newt Scamander was an expert, but that's completely wrong!" I said. I was very, very annoyed by the wrong information that had been placed in the text.

"What is?" she asked.

"Well, it says here that the clans are run solely by the Elders. That's not true; only the Domana line of the Vampyr is run that way. The other twelve clans are headed by the Elder, but the decisions are made by all. Even though the Domana line is a dictatorship, in effect, the other clans are democracies. And also, what it doesn't say here is that the leaders of each coven meet once a decade to discuss matters that are occurring throughout the Vamyric world; that's the council of thirteen, and it's currently headed by Count Vlad Dracul'ah." I rattled off, more to myself than to her.

"Dracula? I thought he was a fictional character."

"No, Dra-kü-lar, not Dra-queue-la. He's the eldest of us living; he's over ten thousand years old."

"_Ten thousand years old_!"

"Yes; full Vampyr are almost immortal after all. Most only die if they choose to, or if they're slain for treason against the clans; but that hasn't happened for about two-hundred and fifty years. Seeing as I'm only a half-blood, I can either choose to be turned again – that is very rarely done, mind – or I can continue living as I am, and die at the age of about three hundred."

"Three hundred!" She sounded shocked, but I couldn't work out why.

"Not that long, is it? I mean, Flammel was over six-hundred years old." I paused, gazing off into space, and then blinked. "Why did I just tell you all of that; we're supposed to be working on this project, not discussing Vampyric politics!"

I sighed, looked at my watch and said, "Well, I'll see you later, Midgen. I have Divination now."

"I have a free lesson, so I'll stay and work on this." she said, surprising me with her sudden enthusiasm. "Have fun in Divination."

Man, that girl is confusing. She can go from nice to super-cold-hearted-bitch in about naught point three seconds. Oh well, it doesn't matter, so long as we pass this project.

* * *

That afternoon, just after dinner, I found myself in the Slytherin common room. Daphy, Milli, Blaise and Theo all turned and looked at me with pitying eyes. I was confused. As I sat down, Milli asked me whether I'd read the Prophet today. I shook my head; I had missed breakfast, so no I hadn't read it. 

"I think you'd better look at this" Blaise said, handing me today's issue of the 'Daily Prophet'. "It's on the front page, Sarina."

Okay, whatever it is, it must be really bad. I looked at the front page, and the title hit my eyes like a painfully bright ray of sunlight. _MINISTER of MAGIC, RUFUS SCRIMGEOUR, INSTATES NEW LAWS on the TREATMENT and RIGHTS of **DARK CREATURES.**_

I read.

_MINISTER of MAGIC, RUFUS SCRIMGEOUR, INSTATES NEW LAWS on the TREATMENT and RIGHTS of **DARK CREATURES**_

_Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, last night revealed his plans to control the treatment and rights of **Dark Creatures** such as **Vampires **and **Werewolves**._

_It is well known that all Dark Creatures sided with He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named during the last war, and so Minister Scrimgeour has taken many steps to prevent such a thing reoccurring. It has been stated that these laws will prevent all non (and part)-humans from working within Wizarding society, and therefore make the world a lot safer. _

_It has also been proclaimed that **all Dark Creatures **_**must **_register with the Ministry in order that they can be controlled. This system will involve the **creature **being numbered in order that tracking may be made easier. _

_The Minister said that "Such a thing should have been done decades ago, and I have every confidence that regulating **Dark Creatures **will help us to win the war against Lord Vol… You-Know-Who."  
This has been regarded widely as an excellent move, however it has met some opposition from **Werewolf **rights campaigners. The leader of this Movement, Mister Fenrir Greybeck, stated that (continued on page four)._

I stopped reading. Tears forming in my eyes. How could that bastard do this! Yes, we're dark creatures, but Dark doesn't necessarily mean evil, does it.

"Holy shit!" I yelled, throwing the paper onto the floor and stomping on Rufus Scrimgeour's smiling picture.

"Shit isn't holy, Sarina," Theo mumbled. I usually would have laughed, but I just glared at him.

"Hey, that reminds me of a joke" Daphy said, smirking. "How do you make Holy Water?"

"You boil the Hell out of it" Blaise replied. "I was the one who told you that joke, remember? And besides, this is no time to be making stupid jokes."

I sighed; I was glad that Blaise Zabini, at least, had enough sense to know that I was actually upset about this, and believe me, it's not easy for me to get upset about something.

"I'm going to kill Scrimgeour" I hissed.

"If the Vampyric and Wolvic Councils don't get to him first," Blaise replied.

Dinner that night was a rather solemn affair. I was sitting with Daphy, Milli, Blaise and Theo, all of us were quiet, plotting in our heads to kill the Minister for instating such idiotic rules.

* * *

I was gazing into space, staring at the ceiling, when I heard the words 'Vampyric Politics' and 'Ministry of Magic' mentioned in a conversation behind me at the Ravenclaw table. 

"What do you mean?" I asked, hoping to get some insight into the new laws. It was then that I realised that Midgen and her friends were talking to Luna 'Loony' Lovegood, Daphy's rather mad second cousin..

"The minister of magic is a Vampire," Luna said. Honestly, the tone she used, she may as well have been discussing the weather. How could that awful racist be a Vampire? He's worse than Voldemort!

My mouth dropped open; I was horrified that anyone could even _think _that that _awful man _is a _vampire_! No, it's just absurd, and I was going to make sure that everyone else knew what I thought too.

"Scrimgeour…a Vampire!" I snapped. "That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! I mean, how on Earth could that monster be a Vampire? He was the one who imposed all these recent rules on the 'regulation and control of dark creatures' which, might I add, affected both vampires and werewolves directly. Neither of the senates, Wolvic or Vampyric, are pleased with that, I assure you. I mean, Scrimgeour being a vampire is about as likely as Voldemort being sane; it's never going to happen, and it's ridiculous even to suggest it."

Luna didn't really look surprised; she's so mad she's used to people saying things like that about her idiotic 'theories' (she's worse than Daphy) but Midgen and her friends looked as shocked at my outburst as I was at Luna's mad theory. I felt myself trembling with anger, and I hissed,

"now, I'm going to the common room; I'll be able to escape this idiocy then." I then ran from the room, tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.

I was alone in the common room and I was crying. I couldn't believe it; I hadn't cried since… since… I can't remember when.

But there I was, alone in the common room, crying and… in my wolf form!

"Sarina," a voice said, and I realised that Daphy, Milli, Theo and Blaise were all with me.

"Sarina," Daphy replied, stroking the head of my wolf-form.

"So this is what happens," Blaise said, looking at me with a mixture of sadness and interest. "This is how your wolf-side appears."

I nodded, staring at him with tear-filled black eyes.

"The Councils will sort this mess out soon," Milli said, trying to comfort me.

"Let's get you up to the Hospital Wing," Theo said. "Pomfrey will be able to help you."

The last thing I remember is being scooped up by Blaise, still in my sable-coloured wolf-form, and then everything went completely black.

* * *

When I finally came around, a week had passed and I was back in human form. I felt so tired, so weak. 

"Sarina!" someone squealed, and I was suddenly being hugged by Daphy. "You're okay!"

"Yeah" I sighed. "I'm okay. I'll be fine as soon as Scrimgeour's dead, but yeah, I'm okay… for now."

* * *

Pomfrey made me stay in the hospital wing for a few more days. The day after I got out, however, I received a call from Midgen to meet her in the library; we still needed to finish out Ancient Runes project. 

For once it was me who arrived late. My hair was still lime-green, but it was loose and matted because I couldn't be bothered to do anything to it. There were dark circles under my eyes, I knew, but I didn't care. My eyes too were black; I couldn't be bothered to put my gold contact lenses in.

I sat down and Midgen smiled at me.

"Morning" she said, but I didn't reply.

"Right, what have we got to do?" I mumbled, pulling my book out of my bag as Midgen handed me the essay. I flicked through the essay, looked back at the book, back at the essay and then at me. It appeared that she'd finished it on her own, but…

"I thought you hated Ancient Runes", I blurted out.

"I do" she replied.

"Then how the heck did you manage to finish this essay? We had about forty pages left to translate."

"Thirty nine", she replied. "But you've been under a lot of stress lately and I decided to finish the essay."

"But, it must have taken you all night!" I was shocked; why was Midgen suddenly being so nice?

"It did; Pince didn't half freak out when she found me here this morning!" she laughed again, and I found myself smiling.

"You know what, Eloise, you're not as bad as you make everyone think," I laughed too. Eloise; that's her name, so I'm going to call her by it from now on.

"Erm, thanks, I think", she said. "So, does this mean we're friends now?"

"You want to be my friend" I said, confused; she obviously knew why I was under so much stress, and yet she wanted to be my friend! I gaped at me then realised what she was probably saying.

"Very funny joke," I muttered sarcastically.

"I wasn't joking" she replied. "Look, I've been an idiot. I am not going to be so 'Death-Eater-like" from now on. And you know what else?"

"What?" I asked, amazed that she was being so sincere.

"I think your right; Voldemort probably is on Crack" she laughed… and so did I.

* * *

Finally, the day this has all been leading up to is here; we're getting our results back; you know; the results for our Ancient Runes Project. 

Vectra places our project in front of us.

"Well done Miss Moon, Miss Midgen," Vectra smiles. "Not a single mistake in the entire translation."

I look at the paper and then at Eloise, "We got an 'O'" I find myself smirking. "Yes, that's brilliant!"

Eloise smirks as well and those smirks turn into full grins as we look at Lisa and Granger, both of whom are looking extremely miffed.

* * *

"So Eloise is friends with someone she thought of as an arch-enemy before. Hermione Granger didn't get the highest score in the year for something. Eloise actually likes Ancient Runes. Eloise is acting sympathetic towards part-humans, non-humans and non-purebloods. And to top all that off, there are Slytherins sitting at the Ravenclaw table", Padma said, looking first at Eloise, then at Lisa, then at Daphy and I, and then back to me. "Have I stepped into an alternate dimension?"

"No" Eloise replied, rolling her eyes. 

"Oh god, the way this is going, somebody's going to say something even more ridiculous like 'Voldemort is on Crack'", the other girl, I think her name was Lydia, muttered.

Eloise looked at me, then Daphy and then Padma and we all laughed.

I guess friendships form in the most unlikely places, don't they? And all because of an insane ministry law and a weird pairing for and Ancient Runes project.

_Finis

* * *

****__Review Responses:_

**_Deb-lil: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I hope you like this chapter too!  
_**

**_Megz: Only you Megan ; sighs Anyway, I'm glad you liked it. And what are you implying with the last line of that review mate? But anyway, hope you like chapter two too!_**


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